


It’s a long list / sometimes you forget things along the way

by WildLioness



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/M, Octavia Blake & Clarke Griffin are Best Friends, Roommates, crushing on the older brother like a pro, every shitty teen girl trope, i let my inner sixteen-year-old out again, list-ish fic, only one terrible pun about griffins, semi-competent adult bellamy, underage-ish (kinda a thing but not really), wtf my parents want to move to africa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-17
Updated: 2015-12-07
Packaged: 2018-05-02 02:45:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5230943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WildLioness/pseuds/WildLioness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clarke has two lists.<br/>List one includes various flavours of wine coolers, dogs, and cookie dough<br/>List two includes her mother's taste in boxed wine and Bellamy Blake</p>
<p>We all know where this is going.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. There are a lot of reasons this is a bad idea

**Author's Note:**

> AHHAHAHA. I have no time, and I wrote this a little while ago, and found it. Please enjoy my inner sixteen year old. She can't write for shit and it's great.  
> The underage-ish isn't acted upon, but idk, some people have issues and shit, so I figured, tag it anyway.

Here is a list of things that Clarke Griffin will happily admit to liking;

 

Pickles

Boys

Girls

Shitty action films with gratuitous explosions

Raspberry wine coolers

Grape wine coolers

Pretty much every flavour of wine cooler except tropical, because tropical is not a flavour, it’s an adjective used to describe the areas of the tropics, or hot and humid weather. It’s not a goddamn flavour

Eating frozen packet cookie dough

Dogs

Shitty celebrity magazines

 

It’s a long list, and we could go on like this for days, so it’s probably best to go onto list number two.

 

Here is a list of things that Clarke Griffin, under pain of being held down and tickled until she cries, and/or pees herself, will not admit to liking;

 

Terrible teen vampire romance novels, with dark and mysterious men, and idiotic girls who are basically as stupid and oblivious as you can get

Terrible teen vampire romance novels, with dark and mysterious men, and idiotic girls who are basically as stupid and oblivious as you can get – made into even more terrible films.

Her mother’s taste in;

a) shoes

b) boxed wine and

c) terrible teen vampire romance novels (as listed above)

 

And last, and perhaps, most importantly,

 

Bellamy Blake

 

 

Now, there are only a few reasons that Clarke can come up with (that make sense to a reasonable human being) for not admitting that she likes Bellamy Blake.

a)    He’s her best mate’s brother

b)    He’s her best mate’s _significantly older_ brother

c)    They live together

d)    He’s seeing someone clearly more appropriate – i.e. not his sister’s best mate, and within the acceptable age bracket

e)    Also did I mention that _they live together_

 

And when I say ‘like’, I mean, as in, ‘like like’. Really ‘like like’.

I feel as if there is a possibility I might have used the word like a few too many times, but you get the drift.

 

Clarke is a relatively intelligent person. She has reasoned out this in serious detail.

a)    He’s her best mate’s brother.

It’s weird to date your friend’s sibling. What if you break up? You’re not just mangling one relationship, you’re mangling two. Octavia is the kind of friend that you know will back family. It’s not a judgement on her part, it’s how she is. You can’t fault her for that, it’s fantastic that no matter what, the Blake’s have each other’s backs. Clarke, being the sort of person that has a very distinct, relatively small circle of close friends, cannot afford to lose one of the best people in her life, because she fucked up, and dated the sibling of her best friend. She’s smart. She’s done the calculations. It’s a low chance that she and Bellamy Blake are ‘meant to be’ and this is some whacked out fairy-tale where everything ends just as you dream it. Clarke’s been to that crazy, epic level of high before. It doesn’t happen without some really high quality illegal substances.

 

b)    He’s her best mate’s _significantly older_ brother.

Ok, so it’s not like a ten-year age gap or something like that. It’s three and a half years. It’s forty-one months and six days. Like I said, Clarke did the calculations. Three and a half years is nothing in the big scheme of things, but it’s a hell of a difference at seventeen and a bit. It’s the difference between can’t vote, or legally purchase alcohol and _actually an adult_. In five years, this difference will be nothing, but right now, Clarke’s crushing on someone for whom dating her could get him arrested. So, yeah, kind of a big deal.

Also, the fact he’s the sole guardian of said best mate after their mother passed away just after Bellamy’s nineteenth birthday, means that if by all matter of miracles, Bellamy and Clarke did get together, and he did get arrested, Octavia gets put into the foster system because her brother is no longer a suitable guardian because he dated a seventeen-year-old. I know, such a great way to send off a fantastic childhood friend.

 

c)    They live together and e) Also did I mention that they live together.

I know I said this twice, but it’s kind of critically important. Clarke lives with the Blake’s because about six months ago, Jake Griffin came home with an incredible opportunity - to lead an in depth study into the effects of climate change on large animals, and more specifically, large animal predator-prey relationships. It was the opportunity of a lifetime, the sort of thing that makes you the leader in the field, and basically lets you do whatever the hell you want, because you have enough grant money to buy a small island.

Do you know where the largest population of large animals, especially large animal predator-prey relationships is?

 

Africa.

                      

Abby Griffin, at the time, was a doctor, specialising in trauma medicine, but had always wanted to look further into the medical issues that went hand in hand with abject poverty. It was a match made in heaven when she discovered a medium level research position looking at how to get cheap healthcare to rural areas in Kenya. It also included hands-on field work. Basically the position that would allow her both research and provide hands on help. It was perfect.

 

Clarke strongly disagreed.

 

The discussion (argument) went basically like this.

Clarke: I want to finish my schooling here.

Abby and Jake: But this is a great opportunity.

Clarke: My friends are here, and I don’t want to move across the world, learn and a new language while trying to get the marks I need for university.

Abby and Jake: But this is a great opportunity.

Clarke: I can drive, you aren’t selling the house, I can stay here, finish my schooling out, then come out there for university.

Abby and Jake: But this is a great opportunity.

 

You can see where this is going? Good. Pretty much any argument Clarke made, her parents countered with ‘but this is a great opportunity’. It gets repetitive very quickly.

Finally, in a fit of anger, Clarke yelled, “If you don’t trust me, then let me move in with Octavia. Bellamy’s got his shit together. If it doesn’t work after the first three months, I’ll move to the middle-of-fucking-no-where-Kenya, ok?”

 

Her parents, rather than responding with, ‘but this is a great opportunity’, fell silent, and looked at each other.

 

“Let us talk this over, and we’ll think about it.”

That was all the hope Clarke needed. She bolted up the stairs, into her bedroom, and immediately dialled the Blake household.

 

“Hi, this is Octavia.”

“Octavia, it’s Clarke. My parents want me to move to Africa. I somehow suggested that I move in with you. Don’t ask me how, I honestly don’t know.”

“Great to speak with you too Clarke. I’m well, thanks for asking.” Octavia paused. “Africa? Why?”

“My dad got some great research position. Mum found herself the dream job. Apparently it’s the opportunity of lifetime, and that’s great and all, but we’re just about to hit the last year of school, and I really want to stick it out here. My parents somehow believe your brother has his shit sorted enough to want to take on a second teenage girl. It was a stupid suggestion.”

“Nah mate, Bell is literally the least put together person in the universe. He fell getting into the shower this morning, smacked his face on the shampoo bottle and gave himself a black eye. The floor was completely dry. He’s an idiot, but he’s my idiot, so together, we go ok.”

“Could you, like, hint somehow that my parents are going to ask him if I can move in with you guys? I feel like that’s a thing he should probably have prior warning of. Also, so I know if it’s an outright no, and I should be packing my shit to head off to the land of lions and elephants.”

“OI BELL!” Octavia covers the phone speaker as she yells, but Clarke can hear the echo of it through their small apartment. “I NEED TO ASK YOU ABOUT A THING!”

“You don’t need to do it now!” Clarke’s hiss is drowned out by the answering Blake yell.

“GIMME LIKE A MINUTE O. LET A MAN PEE IN PEACE FOR GOD’S SAKE!”

“I’m going to put you on speaker now.”

“Oh my god, Octavia, don’t. just. forget about it, jeez.” Despite the fact that she’s alone, Clarke is relatively sure her cheeks are so red, they can be seen from space.

“So what did you want to ask me, O?”Bellamy’s voice was much clearer now. “Who’son the phone?”

“Clarke. She has a thing she needs to ask you.” Octavia wasn’t, wheedling, exactly, but her tone of voice was the one she used whenever she needed Bellamy to pick her up late from a party, or cook pancakes for her and Clarke after a sleepover.

“What did you want me to do for you, Clarke? I will be the protective older pseudo-brother and pick you up from whatever party you need me to at whatever ridiculous time of night.” Clarke knew the exact facial expression that Bellamy would have on. Slight smile, full of fond exasperation.

“Well,I had an argument with my parents about moving to Africa, and in the heat of the moment, I threw out the idea that insteadofmovingtoAfricaImoveinwithyouguys.” The end of the sentence was so rushed; Bellamy didn’t catch it.

“Slow down and repeat that again, and then tell me why your parents are moving to Africa.”

“Ok. So my dad got this incredible thing for work, running his own research team, but it’s in Africa, on big animals. Then mum found a job that she would love to have as well, and then there’s just me, and I don’t want to move. So, like I said, in the heat of the moment, I kind of, accidently, insinuated to my parents that instead of moving to Africa, that you were some kind of reasonably competent adult, and that I could move in with you and Octavia.” Clarke’s voice trailed off at the end. There was an inevitable ‘no’ coming. She knew this, and that’s why she hadn’t wanted to ask, and instead have Octavia do it, then she could cry alone about it, instead of trying to muffle her sniffles over the phone.

Of course Bellamy didn’t want to have to take care of yet another seventeen-year-old. She shouldn’t have even suggested it, and now he was going to feel guilty, and Octavia was going to feel guilty, and the whole thing would be a shemozzle.

 

Bellamy took a deep breath. This was bad. “Look, Clarke, I wouldn’t mind, honest, you’re a way more stable person than O.”

“Dickhead.”

Clarke heard the siblings tussle for a minute, before Bellamy continued.

“But we live in a tiny apartment, and it’s only got two bedrooms, and while I’m surprised and overjoyed that your parents consider me a competent adult, it just wouldn’t work.”

At this point, Clarke was sure her sniffles could be heard over the phone.

“Please don’t cry. Please. I feel really bad, but you just wouldn’t fit, unless we moved to a bigger place, and then there’s rent and it gets complicated.”

“Are you one hundred percent serious about it being fine except for housing?” Her parent’s weren’t going to sell the house, just rent it out while they were in Africa, at least for the first year. “And if so... How much longer is your rental agreement?”

“Yeah, I’m serious. What’s another teenage girl? I clearly haven’t fucked up too badly yet.” One of the Blake’s smothered a laugh. Probably Octavia. “Rental agreement is up in about two months. I’d planned to speak to the agency about it next week. Why?”

“What if we all lived in my house?”

 

And eventually, after various dinners/planning sessions, and speaking with Clarke’s school, and only a small amount of legalese, both Octavia and Bellamy Blake were set to move into 76 Alpha Crescent the week after both adult Griffins spread their wings and flew to Africa.

 

It’s been four months, and everything works relatively smoothly. The Blake’s don’t pay any rent, and Clarke receives two hundred dollars a week that goes mainly towards food and fuel for the secondhand jeep she drives to and from school. She skypes her parents at least once a week, and they seem to be really enjoying their time, exploring the new culture and their dream jobs. It’s like a second honeymoon, only there’s work, but apparently, they both have some sort of ‘new lease on life’.

 

Barring the whole, ’I want to date my best friend’s brother, who is also currently functioning as the adult in my life’ thing, Clarke is having a great time. She lives with her best friend, no ‘real’ adults, and a hot guy who makes her breakfast and watches history documentaries in his spare time.

This pretty much shuts down any miniscule dating chances Clarke had, because if she fucks this whole situation up, she has to move to Africa. Which, would, ya know, really suck after spending all this time convincing her parents to let her stay. Plus, she really doesn’t want to move to Africa. Clarke is sure it’s great and everything, but she really, really doesn’t want to go.

 

And this brings us to reason;

d)    He’s seeing someone clearly more appropriate – i.e. not his sister’s best mate, and within the acceptable age bracket

So, unawares to Clarke, in the two months prior to the whole ‘Africa’ and ‘moving in’ debacles, Bellamy has been, well, dating is probably a little too much of a label, so we’ll go with, ‘hanging out with’ a girl by the name of Echo Reynolds. She’s willowy and dark haired, with eyes that can probably see into your soul. She’s twenty-one, and recently hired at the bar that Bellamy works at while he studies part-time. The first time Clarke sees her is helping to move Bellamy and Octavia’s belongings out of their apartment. She’s not the only person giving them a hand, so Clarke assumes she’s a friend of Bellamy or Miller’s (brought along to help with the heavy lifting, with the promise of a six pack of craft beer and the next football game on the massive flat-screen at the Blake-Griffin house), doing what friends do, lending a hand.

However, later that night, after everything has been dumped on the floor of the various rooms it belongs in, and everyone has gone home, Bellamy asks her if she met Echo.

“Yeah? The tall girl in the ‘scuba diver’s do it deeper’ shirt. Seems nice. Why do you ask?” The three now roommates are spread out on the couches that Clarke’s parents left behind, Bellamy with a beer, and two open packets of taco chips on the floor, in lieu of a coffee table that was now in Africa.

“Well, Octavia likes her, and I just though you should know who she was, because she might be over here, sometimes,” Bellamy pulls at the label on his beer bottle, “You, know, like, in the mornings, sometimes, and stuff.”

“You two are dating?”

“Kind of? Echo’s not really into labels and stuff, so I’m chill, but I just wanted to let you know. Your parents said I was ok to have people here, and just to give them a heads up if anything serious changed, but we’ve only been seeing each other for a couple of months, and it’s pretty casual, but I wanted to give you a heads up.” Bellamy looks up at her, and bites his lip. He doesn’t look awkward or anything, just trying to gauge how she feels about the whole thing. He knows it’s gonna be a little weird for a while, because it’s always been BellamyandOctavia, and Clarke’s only ever lived with her parents, so he’s trying to be as open and chill as he can.

“It’s fine. It doesn’t bother me. Thanks for the heads up though.” Clarke smiles and nods in a way that she hopes is encouraging.

 

“Shhhh.” Octavia waves a hand at them, from where she is draped sideways over a lounge chair. “They’re announcing the next challenge. I hope it’s something stupid, like that time with the naked modelling on the beach for jeans. Please involve hot male models, I’ve got my fingers crossed.”

 Bellamy rolls his eyes, takes a pull from his beer and he and Clarke both re-focus on the most recent episode of ‘America’s Next Top Model’.

 

So there you have it. Every really good reason Clarke has for never ever admitting that she likes Bellamy Blake. Everything is, thus far, working out just fine.

You know exactly where this is going, right? 


	2. Most of them fall by the wayside eventually

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bit by bit, every one of Clarke's reasons fall apart, and then all you've got is what you've been hiding.

So life moves on, in the way it does, day, by day, until it’s been almost eight months since Clarke’s parents took off for their new lives in Africa. She’s visited them once, and they are the happiest she’s ever seen them. Her dad is so engaged with his project, and they’re making some great discoveries. Her mother was nearly in tears as she described the people she’d been working with, and how involved in the community everyone at the medical centre is.

It’s not a long visit, only a week, but it’s enough to reassure Clarke that this was a really good choice, that she’s learning to be an adult, whilst her parents get to be themselves again.

Living with Bellamy and Octavia has at times been crazy, awesome and hard. Crazy and hard because living with two people she isn’t related to means they don’t sugar-coat. During one drag-out knock down fight between Octavia and Clarke, Clarke makes the mistake of screaming ‘I’m not your family. I’m not required to love you.’

Silence falls in the house, and thus far, Bellamy has been playing Switzerland, listening to both sides, smiling politely, and dismissing them both as pointless (he’s right, and they know it, but that’s definitely not going to stop them). Clarke is standing in the doorway of her bedroom as she says it, and knows, as it leaves her lips, that it’s not the type of thing you ever, ever say aloud.

Her and Octavia stare down the hallway at each other, hearts thumping, gasping for breath in the face of their anger. Octavia’s face falls, and Bellamy slams a book down on their rickety coffee table. He enters the hallway between the two girls, Octavia at one end, Clarke at the other. It’s clear from the expression on his face that he is _done_ with the bullshit.

“You.” He points at Clarke. “Do not say that to anyone. It is wrong, and you know it. Apologise. Right now.” Bellamy turns his gaze, and judgemental finger to Octavia. “You are also in the wrong, and I don’t care what this whole thing is about, but you are both equally at fault. I am over the door slamming, and the snarky bitchiness that I see every goddamn morning in the kitchen.”

“Bell.” Octavia attempts to start a conversation. Bellamy shuts her down.

“No. This is not a discussion. I am not your parents, but I’m the closest you have right this second. You are both going to apologise, right now, and we are done with it. Then you’re both grounded. All week.” He spins back around, and both girls hear him throw himself back onto the couch with a frustrated sigh.

Octavia steels her face and starts the walk towards Clarke. They meet in the middle.

“I’m sorry for what I said. It’s mean, and I was angry and it’s not true. You’re my best friend O, and I was wrong about Lincoln, and I shouldn’t have said anything to Roma about it anyway. I should have told you how I was feeling, and tried harder.” Clarke extends her arms for a hug, and after several seconds that feel like hours, Octavia steps into them.

“I was wrong too, and I’m sorry. I knew you were a little suspicious of Lincoln, and that’s fair enough, because you hadn’t met him, and I over-reacted about the Roma thing.”

 

It’s so teen girl make-up that you’re likely to see it in a terrible film about high school best friends.

 

“Your brother fucking grounded us, what the hell?”

“I told you he’s crazy, and I bet you he’s sitting there, book open, not reading, just thinking about how much of a dad he just was.” Octavia tiptoes over to the doorway of the living room, and gestures to Clarke to look. She’s right. Bellamy has his book open curled into one corner of the couch, but he’s aimlessly staring into space.

 

“I know you’re there. And you’re both still grounded.”

 

On the other hand, it’s awesome, because the lack of real adults, mean that on occasion, they forgo real food around the table for Chinese take-way on the couch watching the latest episode of the crime drama they are all addicted to. It’s different from the ‘cheat night’ she’d have every now and then with one parent if the other was away or working late, but it sits happy in Clarke’s heart, and one instance, badly in her stomach after mu-shu pork from a new take-away spot leaves all three of them lying on the floor of Bellamy’s master bathroom, embracing the cool tiles, and throwing up. Octavia is there because she cares, and Clarke and Bellamy because they are so sick they can’t move.

 

 

I think it’s time to get back to the list now. Remember Clarke’s reasons for not admitting her feelings about Bellamy Blake. Let’s run through them real quick.

a)    He’s her best mate’s brother

b)    He’s her best mate’s _significantly older_ brother

c)    They live together

d)    He’s seeing someone clearly more appropriate – i.e. not his sister’s best mate, and within the acceptable age bracket

e)    Also did I mention that _they live together_

 

Now, let’s watch as they fall down, piece by piece, like a well set up line of dominoes.

 

a)    He’s her best mate’s brother

b)    He’s her best mate’s _significantly older_ brother

 

They kind of coincide here, so we’ll deal with them together.

So Bellamy with never not be her best friend’s older brother, that’s just how the cookie crumbles. However, the real reason is that Clarke enjoys having both of them as friends and she doesn’t want to screw up her relationship with Octavia because she dated her brother.

This dissolves into a cloud of dust (‘much like the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum if we don’t protect them!’ Don’t get Bellamy started on the ancient cities. It’s less painful for everyone that way) when one night in the kitchen, over omelettes and caramel milkshakes, Octavia looks Clarke in the eyes and says as plain as day,

“I know you have a thing for my brother. It’s cool. You guys would be good together.”

 

Clarke chokes on a mouthful of cheesy-eggy-bacony goodness and starts coughing her lungs up into the sink.

 

“What?”

“I know you have a thing for Bell, and it’s fine. He’s a good guy, and objectively, I am hot as fuck, and we’re related, so clearly he has to have at least something going for him.”

Clarke, still leaning over the sink, gasping for air, looks directly at Octavia and then shrugs her shoulders. May as well come clean.

“I might have a thing for your brother.”

“Might? I saw you watching him the other day, when he was going on about that documentary about fish, or whatever. You looked at him like he was the centre of your universe.”

“So I have a thing, that I won’t act upon, for your brother, who is like three and a half years older than me. It’s a crush, so whatever. I’ll get over it.”

‘He’s barely twenty-one. You’ll be eighteen at the end of the month. It’s more like three years, and I can bet he doesn’t care.”

“So? It would still be the most awkward thing ever if we broke up. No way I’m screwing with this beautiful friendship.” Clarke gestures to Octavia and herself with a flippant hand. “It could turn into sides, and holy fuck no, I’m never, ever, going to try and beat Bellamy out for most significant person in your life. I’d lose. I know that.”

“That is probably true, but I’d only not speak to you for like a month. I’d get over it after then. He’d be half responsible anyway. Can’t blame one and not the other.”

Octavia shrugs, and starts pulling Clarke’s plate towards her with her fork before Clarke raps her wrist.

“What? You weren’t eating it.”

“Bitch.”

 

Slurping down the ends of their milkshakes as they continue with their current guilty pleasure, season four of ‘Gossip Girl’. They only get to watch it when Bellamy is out of the house, because he despises it with a furious passion, and comments loudly on how there is no way the actors look anything like high schoolers, and the plot is ‘completely idiotic. Why are they all terrible to each other?’

Octavia picks their kitchen conversation back up, and smacks it back to life like you would a rug that needed to be dusted.

“The age thing is so, so not an issue. He’s not going to emotionally manipulate you, or whatever the age difference bullshit is. Do I seem emotionally manipulated since I started dating Lincoln?”

“Now that you mention it, I have noticed.”

“Shut up. Bellamy was jailbait once upon a time, for this weirdo bitch Lorelei. Dude. She was fucked up. Like, serious issues. You know what he did once he got tired of being totally screwed around? Broke up with her, tracked her family down, and they staged an intervention. She got physiological help, and sends us Christmas cards every year. Trust me about the age thing. That is not a concern my brother has.”

“I’m a little concerned about the amount of effort you are putting into this. Do you have some odd thing where we can be ‘real sisters’ or some shit, cause, hun, if so, you’re the one who needs help?”

“Fuck off Clarke.” With this epithet, Octavia shoves Clarke off the couch to the dulcet tones of Kristen Bell’s ‘ _XOXO, Gossip Girl’._

 

 

We’re going to jump out of order here, for good reason, I promise.

 

d)   He’s seeing someone clearly more appropriate – i.e. not his sister’s best mate,          

      and within the acceptable age bracket

 

Although, reasons d) and c) / e) are intertwined, kind of.

 

Echo and Bellamy break up at six twenty-seven on a Friday night. Octavia and Clarke know this, because they’re on Clarke’s bed, door closed, attempting to surreptitiously watch the season four finale without Bellamy noticing. They are both way too emotionally invested in this television show. They know when Bellamy’s car pulls up, and are both in agreement that if Bellamy is having a date night, they can stay upstairs until they need food, and make lots of noise on the stairs (lessons learned, on separate occasions, by both Octavia and Clarke. They don’t speak of it.)

About twenty minutes in (someone has done something _clearly unforgivable_ to someone else), the raised voices start.

Octavia looks at Clarke, and they make an unspoken agreement to ignore it. There’ve been escalating numbers of fights in the last few weeks, but Bellamy and Echo have always worked it out after several days of sulking. This will probably be no different.

 

“WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT OCTAVIA?”

 

Clarke pauses the episode, finger over the space bar. Number one way to reach far enough into Bellamy’s chest to give food to the slumbering coal of his anger is to mention Octavia negatively.

 

“HAS IT EVER OCCURRED TO YOU THAT YOU AREN’T HER PARENT? YOU’RE TWENTY-ONE FOR GODS SAKE.”

 

Octavia rises from her spot against Clarke’s pillow pile. She raises an eyebrow at Clarke, whose wide eyes and head shake show exactly what she thinks off this idea.

They both sit in the now open doorway anyway.

The argument skips from the amount of time they spend together, to every time one of them has cancelled or been late for a date.

Then, it hits the one line they haven’t yet crossed, and it’s the one Clarke has been dreading.

“AND THEN YOU ADOPTED ANOTHER GODDAMN TEENAGER? PICK CLARKE GRIFFIN UP LIKE A LITTLE STRAY IN FROM THE COLD, THEN YOU MOVE INTO HER HOUSE? HER PARENTS DIDN’T LOVE HER ENOUGH TO TAKE HER WITH THEM, SO YOU TOOK HER LIKE A LOST LITTLE PUPPY? YOU’RE NO-ONE’S FUCKING DAD, BELLAMY.”

 

“Enough.”

 

Octavia gasps quietly. This is a tone of voice Clarke has heard only a few times, and it’s so cold she can feel the whiplash burn of ice on her skin.

 

“I am done with this conversation. Octavia is my sister, and she’s all I’ve got, so you will never speak of her like that again. Clarke Griffin is a child so loved and trusted by her parents, they let her make the choice to stay here, against their wishes, because they let her decide for herself. Octavia is her best friend, and I’m glad I could help her. You can’t accept my family; you get out of my life.”

“That’s it? Done? I’m glad I’m out of your crazy mess of a life. This has been finite from the beginning Blake. You can’t make a life with someone when they’ve already got one. I tried, and so did you, and it’s over.” Echo’s accusing tone speaks of long-seated issues that have finally breached the surface.

“Echo.” Bellamy’s voice is softer now, almost apologetic.

“I’m right. You know it, you just don’t really want to say it.”

 

“You’re right. We’re done.”

 

Clarke and Octavia lock eyes. This is not what they were expecting. Bellamy and Echo have been dating for nearly nine months. She’s over at the house pretty often, and Clarke and Octavia like her. She’s very sarcastic, speaks with wonder about the places she’s travelled with her job as a writer for a National Geographic style magazine, and makes great brownies.

 

The slam of the front door is echoed by Bellamy’s exasperated ‘fuck’.

 

Heavy steps sound as Bellamy makes his way up the stairs. Raising his head as he heads towards the master bedroom at the end of the hallway, he catches sight of Octavia and Clarke still curled in the doorway.

“Heard that, huh?”

“Sorry.” Clarke is apologetic. Octavia is not.

“You were pretty loud.”

“Fair enough.” Bellamy thunks the back of his head against the wall opposite Clarke’s doorway before sliding down to settle on the floor. “So, I guess you know Echo and I are done.”

Octavia crab walks across the hall to her brother and they sit shoulder to shoulder, leaning into each other with the kind of comfort that comes from being siblings, or the closest of close friends. Octavia and Clarke are there. Bellamy and Clarke are not. Still, she follows Octavia across the hall and settles in on Bellamy’s other side, not quite touching, but close enough.

 

They sit there for a good hour, at least, not talking, just sitting silently, as the sunlight dwindles. Eventually, Bellamy gets up, turns the lights on, goes downstairs and starts dinner, just like any other night.

 

The part of the argument that Bellamy is so, so glad Clarke and Octavia did not hear is the part where Echo accuses Bellamy of not committing more to their relationship because he’s got a thing for his sister’s best friend. He doesn’t deny it immediately, and those few seconds are all Echo needs to confirm her theory. It adds fuel to the fire of their imploding relationship.

Bellamy isn’t ashamed of his thing for Clarke, on it’s own. She’s great, and he loves living with her and Octavia. They bond over Octavia’s love of shitty television shows (and their shared hatred), that one night with the Chinese food they don’t speak of, the early mornings in the kitchen with coffee and toast, speaking of their days over dinner in the evenings. It’s comfortable and safe, and everything Bellamy has wanted from a relationship. Except, it isn’t a relationship. He’s her pseudo brother slash parental figure. Plus, he was also dating someone. Plus, she probably thinks of him as a friend, as she should. He’s older than her (not that it matters to him, he’s been there, and that can be fine) and her best friends older brother. It’s ok. He’ll get over it.

 

Onto reasons;

     c) and e) They live together,

 

Well, it’s not like they’re going to stop living together. Clarke’s parents are still both in Africa, and she’s not headed over there any time soon. Therefore, Octavia and Bellamy continue their stay in the Griffin house, though it’s more the Griffin-Blake house now.

 

It’s just one more obstacle they have to get over.

 

Clarke makes the first move, which, when you look at their entire relationship, from acquaintances to friends to roommates to _morethanfriends_ to official dating status, makes so much sense.

Clarke is the one to introduce herself when they first met, running full body into each other in the doorway of the Blake apartment. Clarke coming inside with news for Octavia, Bellamy bolting to work. Clarke picks herself off the wall she’s been knocked into, sticks out her hand and introduces herself.

Clarke is the one that calls to ask the awkward question, the ‘will you be my pseudo adult and move in with me?’

Clarke is the one that grabs him by the collar, one Sunday morning in the kitchen over waffles, lips smeared with sticky syrup, and pulls him into her. Bellamy doesn’t know what to do with his hands. They’re standing in the kitchen. Clarke has one hand on his collar, the other arm hooked around his neck, the hair on the back of his neck brushing against the inside of her elbow, fork still clutched in her hand.

Bellamy still doesn’t know what to do with his hands.

Clarke pulls back, drops her forehead into the base of his neck.

“I fucked up, didn’t I?” He feels the words more than hears them, muffled into his now sticky shirtfront.

“What? No. I liked that.” Bellamy was very into that. He likes Clarke, he really does, he’s not sure why she thinks she fucked up.

“Really? You, just, kinda, stood there.” Clarke takes a step back, still within the radius of his arms, if he was holding her. Bellamy is never more aware than this moment, that he is the world’s biggest idiot.

“Oh. Yeah. I’m an idiot.”

“Yes?”

At this, Bellamy hooks a hand under Clarke’s chin, wraps his other arm around her waist, tilts her head up, and their lips meet. He’s got himself sorted now. This is much better

“I’m kind of stupid about first kisses.”

“I would not have guessed that at all, but that demonstration definitely proved it for me.”

 

Here is a list of things that Clarke Griffin, under pain of being held down and tickled until she cries, and/or pees herself, will not admit to liking;

 

Terrible teen vampire romance novels, with dark and mysterious men, and idiotic girls who are basically as stupid and oblivious as you can get

Terrible teen vampire romance novels, with dark and mysterious men, and idiotic girls who are basically as stupid and oblivious as you can get – made into even more terrible films.

Her mother’s taste in;

a) shoes

b) boxed wine and

c) terrible teen vampire romance novels (as listed above)

 

Here is a list of things the Clarke Griffin will shout to the world she likes (maybe loves, but we aren’t there yet, and it’s maybe another story to tell);

 

Bellamy Blake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huzzah it is done. I hope everyone enjoyed my inner sixteen year old. 
> 
> Please, comment, kudos, let me know what you think! 
> 
> If you've been hanging out for this second chapter, I hope I've lived up to your expectations. 
> 
> If you're a newbie, thanks for coming along. 
> 
> Let me know, either way (really, in depth analysis / english paper kinda shit is the goddamn best. I live for it)


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